An Interferometric Fiber-Optic Gyroscope System Based on an Application Specific Photonic Integrated Circuit

摘要

Optical sensing techniques are considered as one of the most advancing and extensively investigated fields of photonics technologies. The fundamental advantages of optical sensors such as immunity to electro-magnetic interference, compact size and energy efficiency designate them to use in highly requiring applications, e.g. in harsh environment and aviation. Modern optical gyroscope systems, which are a critical part of inertial measurement units (IMU) of contemporary airplanes, drones, spacecrafts and others, are definitely one of the most impressive examples of successful implementation of photonic sensors [1]. Typically, the angular velocity is measured by utilizing the Sagnac effect occurring in rotating optical medium, which can be either an optical fiber loop or a ring laser [2]. Nowadays, commercially available gyroscopes are realized using discrete optoelectronic components, while in this work we present and discuss an interferometric fiber-optic gyroscope (IFOG) system, which uses a monolithic application specific photonic integrated circuit (ASPIC) as the readout device. The chip has been realized using the generic foundry approach [3]. We expect that application of such a compact photonic circuit will lead to reduction of the sensor weight and energy consumption with simultaneous increase of reliability of the device.